More rapid triaging
of patients suspected for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is needed to
facilitate early initiation of appropriate therapy in patients with AMI and to
exclude low-risk patients who can safely be sent home. Heart-type fatty
acid-binding protein (H-FABP) is established to be the earliest available
plasma marker for AMI diagnosis. There is a paucity of data on circulating
levels of H-FABP in the general population. In this study we applied a H-FABP
immunoassay with improved analytical performance to assess plasma H-FABP
reference values in a relatively large group (n = 443) of healthy subjects aged
18-69 y. Mean (±SD) plasma H-FABP concentration was 1.7 ± 0.9 ng/mL, with
somewhat higher values found in males than in females. Plasma H-FABP also increases
with age, as previously reported. The 99th centile was obtained for subjects
aged 41-69 years and amounted to 5.6 ng/mL.